SALMON CREEK CATTERY- oriental shorthair cat breeders in New York
About us
Our kittens live with us about 30 minutes east of Rochester, New York. Our cats live inside of our country homestead with our two school ages children that love to help in the socialization process! The cats are hardly aware of the outside friends they have in goats, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese, and yaks.
Our History
At Salmon Creek, Amanda started breeding and showing New Zealand and Rex rabbits at the age of 7! No, she did not know anyone that bred rabbits to help. The plan was to just get a handful of rabbits as pets from a meat breeder, but it grew from there. Or so her parents thought.
One day "a bunny found a flaw with hutch ver 1.0, he took advantage of this breach in security to visit the nice lady bunny near by". This was absolutely planned out and researched without her parents knowledge. Once the litter was born, she was amazed at the diversity of colors and appearance. This is all it took, and her kid self was off to the library again to read up more on genetics with whatever she could find. She even learned how to use tools to build them new enclosures. On a rare chance she found herself inside, she always had Discovery Channel or Animal Planet on in the background. Soon her whole young life revolved around animals, genetics, and biology. She was a constant source for pets bought for her peers that they no longer wanted to care for. Lizards, mice, rats, hamsters, frogs, ferrets, dogs, chickens, ducks, she took them all in as a kid under one condition. She had to pay and fulfill for their needs herself, help would not be on the way if needed. Even while deployed to the middle east, she still risked her military career to take care of and eventually rescue (with the generous help of ISPCA) several dogs back to the United States.
Unfortunately life got demanding, the work life balance shifted to just work, and she stopped the rabbit breeding program. She did still continue to research the subject matter passively over the years.
Amanda grew up with the dreams of being a Conservation Officer. She took college level criminal justice classes while still in high school. She joined the Army to get a "preference bump" on getting into this highly competitive field. Up to 2022, she was in the Army Reserves as a Drill Sergeant, as well as a union HVAC (heating and air conditioning) service technician for commercial properties (she didn't continue on the conservation officer path).
These careers were going great, but she was definitely missing out on some animal companions. She missed the animals and studying them to pick the healthiest, best examples to continue the breeds legacy. Not just whatever you have handy. So these cats popped into her life shortly after so away she went! Then she suddenly got sick and lost 70lbs in less than 2 months. Countless trips to the ED, surgeries, scans, and labs did not produce much results for years. Finally at the end of 2024 she had a trip to the ED that finally decided the diagnosis of secondary dysautonomia from Gulf War Syndrome. Doctors don't know exactly what causes it, there are countless exposures overseas that can cause it, so the vagueness leaves no real treatment. She could not dress herself, shower or anything herself for months while her wrists seemed to be made of glass. Eventually the carnivore diet has brought some relief of symptoms, she is unable to return to work in the fields, but she has found her way back to being completely focused on the animals again, where it feels like home.
Before raising and breeding these cats, Amanda honestly did not really consider herself a "cat person", just an all around animal lover. She has rescued and owned them through the years, but never really bonded with them. The ones she had were always extremely independent, and she preferred pets that she got to interact with more.
However Amandas experience with Oriental Shorthairs completely changed her mind on cats. She says "I'm so fortunate I stumbled on this breed right when I was considering getting back into breeding. I'm obsessed with these cats, their unique personalities and giant ears stole my heart! The only reason I can convince myself to get rid of them, is so I can spread the joy to more loving families."
Ethical Breeding
What is ethical breeding?
- We do not breed "to show". Not to say that we don't show, we show currently with the CFA. Showing however is not our first priority, our #1 concern is always health. While some cats can do very well in the show ring, it does not necessarily mean they should be part of a breeding program. Just like a cat may not be a perfect fit for the breeding program, but could still be the best pet ever. Unfortunately with the way cat shows are structured, cats are graded on their physical appearance or their phenotype. Phenotype is the outward expression of the cats genes (such as blue eyes). Breeding programs however need to focus more on the cats genotype (genes that are not expressed outwards, but play a vital role in health) and health is always our number one priority. Followed by temperament then by coat color and ears and stuff.
- We do not over breed the same two cats. Even if you really like the kittens that two specific cats produce. By breeding them together over and over again, you may be replicating a hidden health issue that doesn't present itself until later in life. By then you would have helped create so many cats with the same issue you may have forever changed the gene pool of the breed! Yuck!
- We do not breed our animals young. Oriental Shorthairs are known for going into heat (puberty) as early as 4 months old. There are several standards on acceptable age to start breeding your cat, answers range anywhere from after the cats third heat cycle, to a year old. Each case is unique, but we like to wait until our queens are at least a year old, are physically developed, DNA tested, and checked again by our veterinarian before we decide to start breeding them. Sometimes the testing shows that they would not work for our breeding program, but could have a perfectly normal pet life, then they would be altered. We would then decide if we will keep the cat retired at our cattery, or find it a pet family. Another example of this is if their blood type is type B (rare in the oriental community but it can happen). Almost all orientals are type A, so their blood type is not always checked. But if a female with type B were to mate with a male with type A, it could cause neonatal isoerythrolysis which can be deadly for the kittens. Just the same as if you performed a blood transfusion with the wrong type of blood. Because of this we choose not to use any cats in our program with type B blood just to be safe.
- We also do not overbreed. Cats in general will average 2 to 3 litters a year. This can be as high as 5 litters a year unchecked! While average is about 4 kittens per litter, anywhere from 1 to 9+ is possible. Cats on their own can continue to reproduce until after they are over 10 years old. That could result in 450 kittens from one cat! Our queens are retired from breeding after a small handful of litters, and will never see more than 2 litters in a year. So our queens will have between 8- 60 kittens in their lifetime.
- We are not cage free. That's correct, while our cats will never normally live in cages, they are not completely cage free. Why do we use cages? To travel to the vet, for cat shows, to keep newborn kittens safe, incubators, to properly socialize with the public, on supervised outside excursions, and on rare occasions for new introductions.
Where are we located?
Ontario, New York
We are located on our country farm nessled between Bear Creek and Salmon Creek in Ontario, New York. Ontario is located in Upstate New York along the Great Lake of Ontario. It is approximately 30 minutes East of Rochester, 60 minutes West of Syracuse, and 90 minutes East of Buffalo. Check out Firewatch Farm Co to see where we source our our own organic and natural herbs, tinctures, and food.
